We want to ensure your children’s eyes are healthy and free of problems and eye disease so they can be the best they can be. The American Optometric Association recommends eye exams for children at 6 months old, 3 years old, 4–5 years old, and every 1–2 years after depending on how their eyes are functioning.

Approximately 15% of children suffer from an undiagnosed refractive problem which can include myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), or astigmatism.

Through the schools and pediatricians providing valuable vision screenings, statistics show that 72% of the children screened had eye problems that were missed by the screening. If these problems are not identified early it can result in the development of amblyopia also known as a lazy eye. Failure to detect these problems early on can lead to attention disorders, and depth perception issues, and can also interfere with their reading abilities and perceptual skills. If detected early most of these conditions can be treated with glasses or contacts.

It is important for children to not only have healthy eyes but to also have healthy functional vision. When we check for the healthy functional vision we are making sure the communication from the eyes to the brain is functioning properly and vice versa.

Here are some of the things you can look out for as your children are growing up:

Infants:

• Were there complications during or immediately after birth?

• Do their pupils look the same in size, shape and color?

• Is there any family history of an eye turn or lazy eye?

• Are they picking things up off the floor consistently?

• Do they turn their head to one side constantly?

• Can they follow objects of interest?

Pre-school:

• Are they meeting their milestones as expected?

• Do they squint or sit closer to the TV than normal?

• Do they complain of any headaches?

• Do they have a shorter attention span when doing near tasks?

• Do they tilt their head consistently when focusing on near or far tasks?